and we'll begin our coverage with nbc's andrea mitchell, good evening, andrea. >> reporter: good evening, brian, in a week that has been a roller coaster for both of the candidates, today's news gave a good bit of a jolt, but that set off a fire storm on what it really means. the news that the unemployment dipped below 8% since he took office came just in time for a president battered by his poor performance in the debate. >> today's news should give us some encouragement. it shouldn't be an excuse for the other side to try to talk down the economy, just to try to score a few political points. >> reporter: not surprisingly, mitt romney saw it differently. >> there were fewer new jobs created this month than last month. >> reporter: romney argued today's numbers disguised the fact that people had stopped trying to even find jobs. >> so it looks like unemployment is getting better. but the truth is, if the same share of people were participating in the work force today, today is on the day that the president got elected, well, the unemployment rate would be at about 11%. >> reporter: it is